Tumbler lock and key



May 2, 1961 H. F. GEORGE 2,982,121

TUMBLER LOCK AND KEY Filed July 7, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 A f H y 1961 H.F. GEORGE 2,982,121

TUMBLER LOCK :AND KEY Filed July 7, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United StatesPatent if TUMBLER LOCK AND KEY Harry F. George, Park Ridge, I11. (919 N.Michigan Ave., Chicago 11, Ill.)

Filed July 7, 1958, Ser. No. 746,859

6 Claims. (Cl. 70-363) This invention relates to a tumbler lock, andmore particularly to a tumbler lock of improved construction, economicalto manufacture, and possessing greater efliciency and durability, and toa novel key therefor and method of forming the same.

Among the objects of my invention are: to provide a novel and improvedtumbler lock; to provide a tumbler lock constructed for operation by atubular key having bittings formed on the inside of its open end; toprovide a tumbler lock having a molded plastic barrel fixed to theshell, and carrying slidable tumbler pins and springs; to provide atumbler lock having a rotatable keyoperated locking plug of novelconstruction; to provide a rotatable locking plug having a novel spacerwasher and associated parts; to provide a novel key and method of makingthe same; to provide a novel shell, rotatable plug, and key for atumbler lock; and such further objects, advantages and capabilities,inherently possessed by my invention, as will later more fully appear.

My invention further resides in the combination, construction andarrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and whileI have shown therein a preferred embodiment, I wish it understood thatthesame is susceptible of modification and change without departing fromthe spirit of my invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an enlarged side elevation of a tumbler lock embodying myinvention, and showing the key about to be inserted into the lock.

Fig. 2 is a view similar. to Fig. 1, but showing the lock and key asviewed looking downwardly at the top of Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is an end view looking toward the line 3-3 in the direction ofthe arrows in Fig. 1, but omitting the key. 4

Fig. 4 is anend view looking toward the line 4-4 in the direction of thearrows in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged end view of the'key, looking toward the open endof the tubular head'thereof.

Fig. 6 is a transverse section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 7' is an enlarged, vertical, longitudinal, median section on theline 77 of Fig. 8.

Fig. 8 is a transverse section on the line 88 of Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a horizontal, longitudinal, median section on understanding ofhow they are to be assembled together.

In the form shown for illustrative purposes in the drawings, myinvention comprises in general a stamped shell or casing 1, a lockingplug having a shaft 2, a cap 3, a spacer washer 4, and three stampings5, 6 and 7, the parts of the locking plug being fixed to rotate togetheras a unit, a molded plastic barrel 8 fixed to the shell, a cam plate 9removably fixed to the shaft to rotate therewith, a fastening element Itfor holding the looking plug and cam plate against longitudinaldisplacement with relation to the shell and barrel but permittingrotation with relation thereto, and a key 11.

The shell 1 is a metallic sleeve preferably stamped out of brass, and isformed at its key end with an inwardly extending annular flange 12having 'a key notch 13, the other end of the sleeve being formed with anopen ended longitudinally extending slot 14 in preferably approximatealinement with the key notch 13 longitudinally of the shell sleeve. Theshaft 2 of the locking plug is shown as being of hexagonal crosssection, although other noncircular cross section could be used ifdesired. The cap 3 is fixed with a press-fit, or other suitable means asdesired, over the key end of the shaft, and has formed to extendlongitudinally along its outer circumferential surface a key notch 15,as will be understood in Figs. 8 and 13. The spacer washer 4 is formedwith a central axial hole 16 of a shape corresponding to the crosssection of the 'shaft 2 and of a size to be fixed to the shaft with apress-fit when pressed onto the cumferentially spaced flutes or channels17 extending in a direction longitudinally of the shaft, for a purposelater more fully explained.

The three stampings 5, 6. and 7 are of disk shape of a diameterapproximately that of the inside of the body of the shell 1, with justenough clearance to permit free rotation of these disks with relation tothe shell when the parts are in unlocking position. Each of these disksis formed with a central axial hole 18 of a shape corresponding to thecross section of shaft 2, and of a size to be fixed to theshaft witha-press-it when pressed onto the shaft to bring one of the side faces ofdisk 5 into contact with the adjacent side face of spacer washer 4, oneside face of disk 6 into contact with the adjacent side face of disk 5,and one side face of disk 7 into contact with the adjacent side face ofdisk 6. The thickness of each of disks 5, 6 and 7 is approximately onesixteenth of an inch, but can vary therefrom as may be suitable anddesirable. Each of the disks is formed with a plurality of tumbler pinholes 19 extending therethrough in a direction longitudinally of theshaft, so that when the three disks are fixed side by side on the shaft,these holes will so aline in groups to form a plurality of tumbler pinholes which also respectively aline with the flutes 17 in the spacerwasher 4.

A tumbler pin 20 is slidably mounted in each of holes 19, these pinsvarying in length for reasons well understood in the tumbler lockindustry. The key ends of these pins, being respectively in alinementwith the respective flutes or scallops 17 in the spacer washer 4, will,when under pressure, he forced into contact with the inner edge of cap3, as will be understood in Figs. 7 and 9. As seen in Figs. 4 and 8, thetumbler pin holes 19 in the disks 5-7 are arranged in a circleconcentric with the axis of shaft 2, and the external diameter of cap 3is such that the outer circumferential edge of this cap extends a slightdistance radially outwardly over a portion of the tumber pin ends, butleaving a substantial portion of the pin ends exposed to be contacted bythe bitting ends of the key as later more fully described. As will beunderstood the flutes in the outer edge of the spacer washer 4 makepossible this partial contact of the tumbler pin ends with the inner endof the cap 3, and at the same time insures that each of the pins will bemaintained in alinement with its hole in disks 5-7. The disks 5-7constitute a locking cylinder fixed to rotate with the shaft.

The barrel 8 is cylindrical in shape and of a diameter to be fixedlyheld in the shell 1 by a pin 21 passing through a hole 22 in the shelland into a corresponding hole in the body of the barrel, as will beunderstood in Figs. 2, 7 and 12. The barrel 8 is also formed with anintegral upstanding lug 23 which, when the barrel is inserted into theshell, passes into the slot 14 of the shell to further hold the barrelagainst rotation in the shell. In order to further hold the lug 23fixedly in place in slot 14 the metal of the shell just back of the lugis swaged inwardly a slight amount at 24 to lessen the width of theslot, as seen in Fig. 2. When in assembled position, the rear end, tothe left as viewed in Fig. 7, of the barrel 8 is flush with the rear endof the shell 1.

The barrel 8 is formed with a central longitudinal bore 25 extendingaxially therethrough, of a diameter enough larger than the maximumdiameter of shaft 2 to permit rotation of the shaft in the barrel duringoperation of the lock, and at the same time prevent wobbling of theshaft in the barrel. Also formed in the barrel around a portion of acircle concentric with the axis of the shaft are a plurality oflongitudinal, circumferentially spaced, tumbler pin holes 26 closed atone end and open at the other, which open ends can be respectivelybrought into registry with the respective holes 19 in the disks 5-7 whenthe locking plug is rotated to such position. Slidably mounted in holes26, one in each, are tumbler pins 27, these pins varying in length sothat their forward ends may be brought into the parting plane by thebittings in the key, as will be understood in the art. Mounted behindeach of the pins 27, in holes 26, are coiled compression springs 28 tonormally urge these pins forwardly, as shown in Figs. 7, 9 and 11. Whenthe barrel and locking plug are in assembled position in the shell, theforward end of the barrel 8 will be in rotatably sliding contact withthe rear face of disk 7, to form therebetween a parting plane 29.

The barrel 8 is formed of molded plastic material of such nature as toenable the central bore 25, the tumbler pin holes 26, and the lug 23, tobe formed in the barrel by molding, and to be present in the barrel whenthe hardened barrel is removed from the mold. Any suitable commercialplastic material may be used as desired, but one such material that Ihave successfully used for this purpose is a nylon resin available onthe market under the trade name Zytel which is manufactured by the DuPont Co. Molded plastic barrels thus formed are less expensive thanmachined metal barrels, and will not rust, and are self lubricating.

Mounted on shaft 2, at the rear end of shell 1, is the cam plate 9having a hole 30 of a shape corresponding to the cross section of theshaft and of a size to be snugly slipped over the shaft, and also beremovable therefrom when desired. A portion of the cam plate 9 isradially extended at 31, and as such cam plates are generally known inthe art further detail description thereof is not necessary. When camplate 9 is positioned on shaft 2, with its extended portion 31 inrotatably slidable contact with the rear end of shell 1, it is securedagainst rearward longitudinal slipping on the shaft by forcing a springclamping element into a circumferential groove 33 formed in the shaft tocontact the rear face of the cam plate.

In the above described structure the stamped shell 1, the cap 3, thespacer washer 4, the stamping disks 5, 6 and 7, and the tumbler pins 20and 27, are each preferably formed of brass, the shaft 2 and the camplate 9 are each preferably formed of steel, and the barrel 8 ispreferably made of molded plastic material. The shell is preferablystamped into shape, which lessens its cost of manufacture.

I have provided a novel form of key 11 which is made of two halves a andb each of which is stamped from a flat sheet metal blank, the two halvesthen being secured together by spot welding, or other suitable fasteningmeans as desired. As seen in Figs. 1 and 2, the finished key comprises aflat portion 34 to facilitate turning the key by the operators fingers,and a tubular head portion 35, the end of which is to be inserted intothe annular space 36 formed between the shell and the outercircumference of cap 3. In stamping the blank of the key half b each ofits side edges in the part to be formed into half of a tube will have adovetail projection 37 formed thereon, and the blank of the key half awill have formed formed in each of its side edges in the part to beformed into half of a tube a dovetail recess 38 to be complemental withthe respective projection 37 of the other half, and to receive the samewhen the tubular portions have been bent into semicircular curves andplaced together, as will be understood in Fig. 2. Also on one edge ofone of the blanks of one of the halves, this being shown on half a inFigs. 2 and 5, a lug 39 is bent to extend radially outwardly of thefinished key, one end of said lug 39 being flush with the edge of theopen end of the tubular head of the key. Just back of lug. 39 on thesame half a, a lug 40 is bent to extend radially inwardly of thefinished key. These lugs 39 and 40 will be understood in Figs. 1, 2, 5and 11. The positioning of the dovetail projections and recesses 37 and38, and the radial lugs 39 and 40, may be reversed to the side edges ofthe other half, if desired.

Also stamped into the blanks of the two key halves, at the free ends ofthe parts to be bent into the tubular head of the key, are the bittings41. These bittings are stamped so as to be on the inside of the tubularhead of the key. In other words, they are stamped so as to put thebitting grooves on the inside of the end portion of the tubular head ofthe key, and the pressed out embossed portion 42 thereof on the outsideof the tubular head, as seen in Fig. 5. As is understood in the art,these bittings will vary in length so that when they push on theadjacent ends of the driving tumbler pins 20, the opposite ends of thesepins will be flush with the parting plane 29 when the key is pushed homein the lock, because of having pushed the tumbler pins 27 in the barrel8 rearwardly against springs 28. This places all of the abutting ends ofthe tumbler pins 20 and 'the tumbler pins 27 flush with the partingplane 29, to permit rotation of the locking plug with relation to thebarrel and shell. This is the unlocking position of the parts, as seenin Fig. 11. When the key is removed from the lock, the two sets oftumbler pin holes will be in respective alinement and the coil springs28 will force the abutting ends of the tumbler pins out of the partingplane into the locking position, as seen in Figs. 7 and 9.

Referring to Figs. 4 and 13, it will be seen that the internal flange12, at the key end of the shell 1, is formed with a plurality ofcircumferentially spaced scallops or recesses 43 for receivin therespective outer embossed surfaces 42 of the bittings 41, to permit thekey to be inserted into place in the lock. It will also be noted thatwhen inserting the key into position in the lock, the outer key lug 39will pass through key notch 13 in the shell flange 12, and the inner keylug 40 will pass through key notch 15 in cap 3. This permits the outerand inner key lugs to move circumferentially in the annular space ance.

36 between the inner surface of the shell and the outer surface of thecap 3 and spacer washer 4, except that the right hand end, as viewed inFig. 11, of the inner key lug 40, will still be seated in the key notch15 in the cap 3 when the key is pushed home in the lock. This enablesthe inner key lug 40 to transmit rotational force to the cap 3 whenrotating the locking plug with relation to the shell, without theinterengagement of the bittings with the driving tumbler pins 20 beingrequired to take the turning force of the key. The cap 3 is spacedinwardly from the inner edge of the shell flange 12 sufiiciently toprovide the annular slot 44 to receive the tubular end of the key whenthe key is inserted into the lock, as seen in Fig. 4.

The above described structure enables me to provide a tumbler lock thatis economical to manufacture, efiicient and durable in operation, andattractive in appear- The forming of the bittings on the inside of theend of the tubular portion of the key provides additional securitybecause it makes it more difiicult to observe or measure the depth ofthe bittings than if they were on the outside, and also gives a betterkey because it provides less wear on the lining of the owners pocket.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. Ina tumbler lock, a shell, a barrel fixed to the shell, a lockingcylinder rotatably mounted in said shell and contacting the barrel, ashaft with which said locking cylinder is fixed for rotation therewith,said shaft being-rotatable with relation to the barrel, an enlargedportion on one end portion of the shaft forming an annular shouldertherearound in a plane at right angles to the axis of rotation of theshaft, a spacer washer fixed to the shaft between the shoulder andlocking cylinder, said locking cylinder and barrel having holesextending parallel to the shaft, tumbler pins in said holes, one end ofeach of the tumbler pins in the locking cylinder passing over theperipheral edge of the spacer washer and normally contacting saidshoulder on the shaft, said shell having on one end an inwardlyextendiug flange adjacent to but diametrically spaced away from theenlarged portion of the shaft, a key having a tubular end formed withcircumferentially spaced bittings on its inner surface, the tubularportion of the key at each hitting passing outside of the respective endportion of the locking cylinder tumbler pin, the last mentioned lockingcylinder tumbler pin end portions coming in contact with the bittings onthe inside of the key tubular portion.

2. In a tumbler lock as claimed in claim 1, in which the outer end ofeach of the locking cylinder tumbler pins adjacent said shoulder is atall times spaced inwardly away from contact with said shell flange in adirection longitudinally of the shaft.

3. A tumbler lock, comprising, a rotatable shaft, 8. barrel having acentral longitudinal bore to rotatably receive the shaft, a lockingcylinder fixed to rotate with the shaft, an enlarged portion on one endportion of the shaft forming an annular shoulder therearound in a planeat right angles to the axis of rotation of the shaft, a spacer washerfixed to the shaft between the shoulder and locking cylinder, saidlocking cylinder and barrel having holes extending parallel to theshaft, tumbler pins in said holes, one end of each of the tumbler pinsin the locking cylinder passing over the peripheral edge of the spacerwasher and normally contacting said Shoulder on the shaft, resilientmeans in the barrel holes 6 for normally urging the locking cylindertumbler pins into contact with theshoulder to prevent the tumbler pinsfrom falling out of the locking cylinder and barrel, the shaft extendingcompletely through the locking cylinder and the barrel, and the lockingcylinder being rotatable with relation to the barrel.

4. A tumbler lock as claimed in claim 3, in which said shoulder is thesole contact for the locking cylinder tumbler pin outer ends to preventthem falling out when the lock is in locked position. v

5. A tumbler lock, comprising, a shaft, a locking cyl inder fixed torotate with the shaft, a barrel having a central longitudinal bore torotatably receive the shaft, the locking cylinder having a plurality ofholes extending therethrough parallel to'the axis of the shaft, saidbarrel having a plurality of holes extending partway thereinto parallelto the axis of the shaft, tumbler pins in said holes, a cap fixed ontoone end of the shaft and being of greater overall transverse dimensionthan the overall transverse dimension of the shaft and forming anannular shoulder therearound in a plane at right angles to the axis ofrotation of the shaft, a spacer washer fixed on the shaft for rotationtherewith and positioned between said cap and locking cylinder, saidspacer washer having on its circumferential edge a plurality of flutesequal in number to the number of locking cylinder tumbler pin holes, thebottom ends of said flutes falling on a circle of less diameter than thediameter of said cap and larger than the diameter of the shaft, theadjacent ends of the tumbler pins in the locking cylinder normallyextending through said flutes and contacting said annular shoulder andpreventing the tumbler pins from falling out of the locking cylinder.

6. A tumbler lock, comprising, a shell, a barrel fixed to the shell, alocking cylinder rotatably mounted in said shell and contacting thebarrel, a shaft with which said locking cylinder is fixed for rotationtherewith, said shaft passing through the barrel and being rotatablewith relation thereto, an enlarged portion on one end portion of theshaft forming an annular shoulder therearound in a plane at right anglesto the axis of rotation of the shaft, a spacer washer fixed to the shaftbetween the shoulder and locking cylinder, said locking cylinder andbarrel 2 having holes extending parallel to the shaft, tumbler pins insaid holes, one end of each of the tumbler pins in the locking cylinderpassing over the peripheral edge of the spacer washer and normallycontacting said shoulder on the shaft, said shell having on one end aninwardly extending flange adjacent to but diametrically spaced away fromthe enlarged portion of the shaft, the outer end of each of the lockingcylinder tumbler pins adjacent said shoulder being at all times spacedinwardly away from contact with said shell flange in a directionlongitudinally of the shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,517,177 Stone Nov. 25, 1924 1,619,252 George Mar. 1, 1927 1,877,404Jacobi Sept. 13, 1932 1,984,202 Shinn Dec. 11, 1934 1,998,900 LombardoApr. 23, 1935 2,014,233 Keil Sept. 10, 1935 2,105,099 Schuyler Jan. 11,1938 ,133,187 Cheney Oct. 11, 1938 2,292,515 George Aug. 11, 19422,588,230 George Mar. 4, 1952

